While the clocks have just changed with winter drawing in, American Airlines is already making big plans for the summer of 2025.
Among these is a transatlantic expansion from its hub at Miami International Airport (MIA), where the US legacy carrier is looking to expand its European capacity.
As noted yesterday by Miami International Airport, American Airlines has taken the exciting step of launching a brand-new route from the Florida facility next year.
This will serve Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO), offering a non-stop connection with the Fort Worth-headquartered oneworld founding member for the first time. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava stated that:
"I am proud to celebrate our largest flying partner, American Airlines, and their announcement to strengthen its transatlantic network at MIA. This expansion reflects Miami-Dade County’s growth as a key link between North America, Europe, and beyond."
American Airlines will begin operating the new route from Miami International Airport to Rome Fiumicino on June 5th, flying the Boeing 777-200 on a daily basis.
Current scheduling data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, suggests that these services will run until September 2nd, with competition coming from ITA Airways. Unlike American, the Italian flag carrier serves the route all year round.
American Airlines has also demonstrated its commitment to its European network from Miami by increasing the number of seats available on its flights to and from London Heathrow Airport (LHR).
While Cirium's figures suggest that the twice-daily frequency on the route will remain the same, seat capacity is set to increase year-on-year when compared to this summer, as demonstrated by the data below:
|
Quarter |
Year-on-year seat capacity increase |
|
Q2 2025 (181 flights each way) |
5,735 (5.5%) |
|
Q3 2025 (184 flights each way) |
4,123 (3.8%) |
American faces stiff competition on the route from Miami to Heathrow, with UK-based heavyweights British Airways and Virgin Atlantic also present.
Incredibly, in the 12-month period ending on October 31st, 2025, there are only 10 flights between the three of them, with BA operating 1,454 sectors, followed by American on 1,446, and Virgin on 1,444. American Airlines' Juan Carlos Liscano stated that:
"As Miami’s Hometown Airline, we are proud to strengthen our commitment to providing customers with more options out of MIA. Our rapidly expanding network is a testament to our commitment to Greater Miami. We are flying our largest schedule on record, with over 400 flights a day to more than 155 destinations around the world."
The 155 destinations served by American Airlines from Miami are spread across 45 different countries, exemplifying the airport's global appeal.
Rome and London are two of five European routes operated by American Airlines from the facility, with the others serving Josep Tarradellas Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN), Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas (MAD).
Elsewhere, Volaris El Salvador is another airline that has recently been in the news for helping to expand Miami's international footprint. Last week, the airline launched a non-stop route to the Florida facility, operating four times a week using 174-seat Airbus A320 jets.
These will run alongside Volraris El Salvador's existing thrice-weekly one-stop flights from San Salvador to Miami via San Pedro Sula.
